The Royal Physician's Visit Quotes

“Is it the darkness that is light, or the luminous that is dark? A choice must be made. The same is true of history; people choose what to see, what is light and what is darkness.”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“Once upon a time a castle stood here. That’s how it has to be said: Here it stood, and here it was swallowed up by the Danish revolution. And nothing is left of it. Hirschholm Castle was situated on an island. The castle was surrounded by water, it stood in the middle of a lake, and at night the water was covered with the sleeping birds she loved so much, especially when they slept wrapped in their dreams. It took half a century to build the castle, and it wasn’t actually completed until 1746. It was magnificent and beautiful, a Nordic Versailles, but the same thing happened to the castle as happens to very brief dreams: it lasted only one summer, the summer of 1771. After that the dream was over, and the castle stood alone and deserted and slowly sank into decay. It”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“By this he seems to have meant that acuity and spirituality were not bestowed on human beings by some higher being but were shaped by our life experiences. It was our obligations to others that gave meaning to everything, that created inner satisfaction, that gave life its purpose, and that ought to determine a person’s actions.”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“Pjäsen handlade, sa Konungen till mig, om att ondskan funnes i så hög grad hos dessa människor vid hovet att de liknade apor eller djävlar; de gladde sig åt andras olyckor och sörjde över deras framgångar, detta vore det som druidernas tid kallades Kannibalism, Anthropophagie. Därför befunno vi oss bland Kannibaler.”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER THE Royal Physician’s Visit PER OLOV ENQUIST Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally Set in Denmark in the 1760s, The Royal Physician’s Visit magnificently recasts the dramatic era of Danish history when Johann Friedrich Struensee, a German doctor from Altona, student of Enlightenment philosophers Diderot and Voltaire, and court physician to mad young King Christian, stepped through the aperture history had opened for him and became for two years the holder of absolute power in Denmark. Dr. Struensee, tall, handsome, and charismatic, introduced hundreds of reforms, many of which would become hallmarks of the French Revolution twenty years later, including freedom of the press and improvement of the treatment of the peasantry. He also took young Queen Caroline Mathilde—unsatisfied by her unstable, childlike husband—as his mistress. He was a brilliant intellectual and brash reformer, yet Struensee lacked the cunning and subtlety of a skilled politician and, most tragically, lacked the talent to choose the right enemies at court, a flaw which would lead to his torture and execution. An international sensation sold in twenty countries, The Royal Physician’s Visit is a view from the seat of absolute power, a gripping tale, vividly and entertainingly told. Enquist’s talent is in full force as he brilliantly explores the connections that will always run between political theory and practice, power, sex, love, and the life of the mind. “A great book, a powerful book—it effortlessly and self-confidently surmounts the standard works of fiction.” —Die Zeit “Incomparably exciting in its uncompromising lucidity and at the same time unsettling.” —Suddeutsche Zeitung “Time and time again the story takes to the air on the wings of fantasy … a magnificent adventure.” —Upsala Nya Tidning “The erotic scenes are among the most beautiful I have read in modern literature.” —Kvällsposten”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“Het moest de Duivel zijn die het gereedschap om het goede te doen uitkoos. Hij nam daarvoor de nobele mensen die vrees konden kennen. Maar als de goeden konden doden noch vernietigen dan was het goede hulpeloos.”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“Hij schijnt hiermee bedoeld te hebben dat scherpzinnigheid en spiritualiteit de mens niet door een hoger wezen geschonken waren, maar dat ze door onze levenservaringen worden gevormd. Het was de plicht jegens de naaste, die zin aan alles verleende en die een innerlijke tevredenheid teweegbracht, die het leven zin gaf en de handelingen van de mens diende te bepalen”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit

“Människan var inte en maskin, men befann sig inne i maskinen. Det var det som var konsten. Att bemästra maskinen. Då skulle ansikten han tecknade le tacksamt och välvilligt mot honom. Men det svåra, det riktigt svåra var att de inte tycktes tacksamma. Att människornas små elaka huvuden mellan punkterna, de som avbockats! blivit klara! lösta!!!, att dessa ansikten som tittade fram var ondskefulla och illvilliga och otacksamma. Framför allt var de inte hans vänner. Samhället var en maskin, och ansiktena illvilliga. Nej, ingen klarhet längre.”
― Per Olov Enquist, The Royal Physician's Visit